1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an optical connection component manufacturing apparatus that manufactures an optical connection component in which a refractive index matching body is attached to a front end face of a linear optical member and a high polymer material coat forming apparatus that forms a high polymer material coat on a front end face of a linear dielectric.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, as an optical connection component that connects optical members together, an optical connection component is known in which a refractive index matching body is attached to the front end face of a linear optical member. According to such an optical connection component, by pressing the end face of another optical member toward the front end face of the optical member to which the refractive index matching body is attached, the optical connection component and the another optical connection member are connected to each other. As an optical connection component manufacturing apparatus that manufactures such an optical connection component, an apparatus is known in which a refractive index matching body of the liquid phase (hereinafter, referred to as a refractive index matching liquid) is supplied to a holding wall that is vertically formed so as to be held thereby, and the refractive index matching liquid is adsorbed onto the front end face of the optical member by allowing a charged linear optical member to approach the refractive index matching liquid that is held by the holding wall (e.g., see JP 2007-183383 A and JP 2009-276784 A). In addition, a high polymer material coat forming apparatus is known which allows a high polymer material of the liquid phase to be adsorbed onto the front end face of a dielectric by supplying the high polymer material of the liquid phase to a holding wall that is vertically formed so as to be held thereby and allowing the charged linear dielectric to approach the high polymer material of the liquid phase held by the holding wall (e.g., see JP 2009-276785 A).
According to the each one of the optical connection component manufacturing apparatus disclosed in JP 2007-183383 A and JP 2009-276784 A, since the refractive index matching liquid is held by the holding wall that is vertically formed, there are cases where the refractive index matching liquid held by the holding wall does not form a fixed form but is scattered due to the temperature, the humidity, and the like of the periphery of the optical connection component manufacturing apparatus. When the form of the refractive index matching liquid held by the holding wall is scattered, the amount of the refractive index matching liquid adsorbed onto the front end face of the optical member is not constant, and there is a concern that there are variations in the qualities of optical connection components manufactured by the optical connection component manufacturing apparatus. In addition, according to the high polymer material coat forming apparatus described in JP 2009-276785 A, there is concern that the high polymer material of the liquid phase held by the holding wall does not has a fixed form, and there may be a variation in the coating amount of the high polymer material coat.
Accordingly, optical connection component manufacturing apparatuses each having a holding face, which holds a refractive index matching liquid, extending to the lateral side have been proposed (e.g., see JP 2013-54127 A). In the optical connection component manufacturing apparatus disclosed in JP 2013-54127 A, an edge portion in which the holding face is formed to be horizontal or approximately horizontal is arranged, and a refractive index matching liquid is supplied until the refractive index matching liquid rises on the edge portion in accordance with the surface tension of the refractive index matching liquid. In the optical connection component manufacturing apparatus disclosed in JP 2013-54127 A, the refractive index matching liquid supplied to the holding face spreads on the holding face toward the lateral side. Then, the refractive index matching liquid arriving at the edge portion rises on the edge portion in an approximately arc shape in accordance with the surface tension thereof. To the holding face, the refractive index matching liquid is supplied until the refractive index matching liquid rises on the edge portion in accordance with the surface tension of the refractive index matching liquid, and the supply thereof is stopped before the refractive index matching liquid falls from the edge portion. Accordingly, the form of the refractive index matching liquid held on the holding face is stabilized, and it is easy to have the amount of the refractive index matching liquid adsorbed onto the front end face of the optical member to be constant. As a result, the quality of optical connection components manufactured by the optical connection component manufacturing apparatus can be stabilized.